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How To Build Lead Lists like a Cold Email Expert
February 7, 2024
How To Build Lead Lists like a Cold Email Expert
Building effective lead lists for cold email takes time, but your lead lists are the fuel to your email campaigns. If your vehicle has bad fuel it isn’t going to go far, on the contrary if you put the good/proper fuel into your vehicle it will perform well and you’ll be able to drive far.
Same thing goes for cold email, your lead list is arguably more important than your email copy. This is because in your lead lists you are able to segment and specifically choose who you want to target. For example, we can make a campaign that’s targeting people who went to “InfoSec World.”
Onto the actual specific steps you can take to build your lead lists. Depending on the type of leads you are looking for you will go to different databases. The most popular one is LinkedIn Sales Navigator, as LinkedIn has the largest database of B2B companies. We at Forge Outbound most commonly use Apollo.io for the actual extraction of contacts but use an assimilation of different databases to get the company domains and then we use an array of tools to enrich that information.
For this example we will use Apollo. Here are the steps we would take to build a campaign:
Step 1
Pull the list of leads: This can be as simple as toggling a few filters in Apollo.
Here you can see I’ve made a simple search targeting Founder, CEO’s & Founder’s of Cyber Security companies who are located in the U.S. and have between 2-250 employees.
Once you’re satisfied with the list you’ve created in Apollo, you can use either exportapollo.io or findylead.com to get the contact information of the leads. Information such as: first name, last name, work email, company name, company website, personal and company LinkedIn profile, phone number (if available) etc.
Step 2
Once you have your lead list, you will now have to verify the email addresses before sending. This is because if you send to invalid emails, your email reputation will suffer as a result. We call this “bounced” emails, and typically we like to keep your email bounce rate below 2%. If at any point it goes above this mark we can do an automation that pauses the campaign and sends us an alert.
Tools like Millionverifier.com are excellent for this, though neverbounce.com and debounce.io are also reliable options.
We aren’t affiliated to these companies in any way shape or form.
Step 3
Once you’ve received your list of validated email list you want to import it into google sheets and remove any unwanted columns.
From there we will want to clean the company names. This is because there will be random capitalizations, and formalities like (LLC) that are unwanted in cold emails.
We use chat GPT-4 to help us clean the company names at scale.
This is what the prompt looks like:
Here are company names. These are the company names of prospects im doing outreach to.
Take this company name and properly format it, clean it up. Remove any legal suffixes, use proper capitalization, and return only the core company name to be used in the cold outreach.
Also if they have "Agency" or "Marketing" in their name or something similiar remove it.
And if they have any location in the name "like New York" or "Los Angeles" remove it.
The idea is that this should be the way people would speak of the company in a casual conversation.
Each line is a new name, and all lines are completely different people and have nothing to do with each other.
When I submit the company name, give me back company names with what you think the filtered company name is.
The purpose of this is to use these company names in the outreach script.
When I submit a list like this:
PURDORI
Prados Beauty, LLC
Carib Sales, Inc.
LIVE LOVE SPA
I need you to return:
Purdori
Prados Beauty
Carib Sales
Live Love Spa
DO NOT RETURN ANY OTHER TEXT. ONLY THE COMPANY NAME. DO NOT RETURN NUMBERS, DO NOT RETURN ANY TEXT. ONLY THE COMPANY NAME. PLEASE DO NOT RETURN ANYTHING ELSE. ONLY THE COMPANY NAME.
Also keep in mind these company names can't have emojis, numbers, or any symbols in them whatsoever.
After the company names are done cleaning add them back into your lead list and now we will filter by timezone.
Step 4
You now have your cleaned lead list and you’re ready to launch. Add your lead list file into your ESP (Email Sending Provider) and you’re off to the races!
Breaking into this sacred space without an invitation can be a daunting challenge. That's where the artful finesse of cold emailing comes into play—a strategy that, when executed correctly, transforms unsolicited messages into welcomed business opportunities.
Understanding the Rhythm
At its heart, cold email is a dance of finesse and persuasion. It's not just about making your presence known; it's about doing so with such subtlety and relevance that you naturally sync with the recipient's rhythm. Your aim? To strike a chord with their needs and interests and spark their curiosity.
Choreographing Your Approach
The first step is crafting an opener that captivates. Forget the generic "I hope this email finds you well" and opt for something that grabs attention right away. Personalize it. Mention a recent achievement of their company, or bring up a mutual connection. Show them this isn't just another mass email; it's a handpicked invitation to connect.
From there, let your message smoothly transition into the value proposition. What can you offer that they can’t find elsewhere? Be clear, concise, and compelling. This is your sales asset—be it an informative document, a short video, or 100 free leads that perfectly match your prospect's ICP (Ideal Customer Profile). This shouldn’t be something that they can’t easily find elsewhere.
Timing is Everything
Just like in dance, timing in cold emailing is crucial. Research the optimal times to send emails to increase your visibility. Early morning or late afternoon? Tuesday or Thursday? These details matter. Understand the importance of following up without becoming overbearing. A well-timed nudge can spark action, but overdoing it can drive your audience away.
In follow-ups, we like to highlight relevant case studies and new resources that may benefit our prospect—sometimes, a simple check-in on their company’s wellbeing can be remarkably effective (this specific follow-up has been among our top performers for over 6 months).
Navigating the Dance Floor
Expect rejections and non-responses; they're part of the process. Every interaction is a step, a move that sharpens your approach. Analyze what works and what doesn’t. Was it the subject line that piqued their interest, or the personalized touch? Use these insights to refine your strategy.
Embracing the Dance
Mastering the delicate dance of cold email is a continuous journey. It demands patience, persistence, and the readiness to adapt. But when the music hits just right, and your steps align with the expectations and needs of your audience, the results can be transformative. You're not merely reaching out; you're starting a real conversation, presenting ways to solve their problems, and opening doors to new possibilities for growth.
How To Build Lead Lists like a Cold Email Expert
Building effective lead lists for cold email takes time, but your lead lists are the fuel to your email campaigns. If your vehicle has bad fuel it isn’t going to go far, on the contrary if you put the good/proper fuel into your vehicle it will perform well and you’ll be able to drive far.
Same thing goes for cold email, your lead list is arguably more important than your email copy. This is because in your lead lists you are able to segment and specifically choose who you want to target. For example, we can make a campaign that’s targeting people who went to “InfoSec World.”
Onto the actual specific steps you can take to build your lead lists. Depending on the type of leads you are looking for you will go to different databases. The most popular one is LinkedIn Sales Navigator, as LinkedIn has the largest database of B2B companies. We at Forge Outbound most commonly use Apollo.io for the actual extraction of contacts but use an assimilation of different databases to get the company domains and then we use an array of tools to enrich that information.
For this example we will use Apollo. Here are the steps we would take to build a campaign:
Step 1
Pull the list of leads: This can be as simple as toggling a few filters in Apollo.
Here you can see I’ve made a simple search targeting Founder, CEO’s & Founder’s of Cyber Security companies who are located in the U.S. and have between 2-250 employees.
Once you’re satisfied with the list you’ve created in Apollo, you can use either exportapollo.io or findylead.com to get the contact information of the leads. Information such as: first name, last name, work email, company name, company website, personal and company LinkedIn profile, phone number (if available) etc.
Step 2
Once you have your lead list, you will now have to verify the email addresses before sending. This is because if you send to invalid emails, your email reputation will suffer as a result. We call this “bounced” emails, and typically we like to keep your email bounce rate below 2%. If at any point it goes above this mark we can do an automation that pauses the campaign and sends us an alert.
Tools like Millionverifier.com are excellent for this, though neverbounce.com and debounce.io are also reliable options.
We aren’t affiliated to these companies in any way shape or form.
Step 3
Once you’ve received your list of validated email list you want to import it into google sheets and remove any unwanted columns.
From there we will want to clean the company names. This is because there will be random capitalizations, and formalities like (LLC) that are unwanted in cold emails.
We use chat GPT-4 to help us clean the company names at scale.
This is what the prompt looks like:
Here are company names. These are the company names of prospects im doing outreach to.
Take this company name and properly format it, clean it up. Remove any legal suffixes, use proper capitalization, and return only the core company name to be used in the cold outreach.
Also if they have "Agency" or "Marketing" in their name or something similiar remove it.
And if they have any location in the name "like New York" or "Los Angeles" remove it.
The idea is that this should be the way people would speak of the company in a casual conversation.
Each line is a new name, and all lines are completely different people and have nothing to do with each other.
When I submit the company name, give me back company names with what you think the filtered company name is.
The purpose of this is to use these company names in the outreach script.
When I submit a list like this:
PURDORI
Prados Beauty, LLC
Carib Sales, Inc.
LIVE LOVE SPA
I need you to return:
Purdori
Prados Beauty
Carib Sales
Live Love Spa
DO NOT RETURN ANY OTHER TEXT. ONLY THE COMPANY NAME. DO NOT RETURN NUMBERS, DO NOT RETURN ANY TEXT. ONLY THE COMPANY NAME. PLEASE DO NOT RETURN ANYTHING ELSE. ONLY THE COMPANY NAME.
Also keep in mind these company names can't have emojis, numbers, or any symbols in them whatsoever.
After the company names are done cleaning add them back into your lead list and now we will filter by timezone.
Step 4
You now have your cleaned lead list and you’re ready to launch. Add your lead list file into your ESP (Email Sending Provider) and you’re off to the races!
Breaking into this sacred space without an invitation can be a daunting challenge. That's where the artful finesse of cold emailing comes into play—a strategy that, when executed correctly, transforms unsolicited messages into welcomed business opportunities.
Understanding the Rhythm
At its heart, cold email is a dance of finesse and persuasion. It's not just about making your presence known; it's about doing so with such subtlety and relevance that you naturally sync with the recipient's rhythm. Your aim? To strike a chord with their needs and interests and spark their curiosity.
Choreographing Your Approach
The first step is crafting an opener that captivates. Forget the generic "I hope this email finds you well" and opt for something that grabs attention right away. Personalize it. Mention a recent achievement of their company, or bring up a mutual connection. Show them this isn't just another mass email; it's a handpicked invitation to connect.
From there, let your message smoothly transition into the value proposition. What can you offer that they can’t find elsewhere? Be clear, concise, and compelling. This is your sales asset—be it an informative document, a short video, or 100 free leads that perfectly match your prospect's ICP (Ideal Customer Profile). This shouldn’t be something that they can’t easily find elsewhere.
Timing is Everything
Just like in dance, timing in cold emailing is crucial. Research the optimal times to send emails to increase your visibility. Early morning or late afternoon? Tuesday or Thursday? These details matter. Understand the importance of following up without becoming overbearing. A well-timed nudge can spark action, but overdoing it can drive your audience away.
In follow-ups, we like to highlight relevant case studies and new resources that may benefit our prospect—sometimes, a simple check-in on their company’s wellbeing can be remarkably effective (this specific follow-up has been among our top performers for over 6 months).
Navigating the Dance Floor
Expect rejections and non-responses; they're part of the process. Every interaction is a step, a move that sharpens your approach. Analyze what works and what doesn’t. Was it the subject line that piqued their interest, or the personalized touch? Use these insights to refine your strategy.
Embracing the Dance
Mastering the delicate dance of cold email is a continuous journey. It demands patience, persistence, and the readiness to adapt. But when the music hits just right, and your steps align with the expectations and needs of your audience, the results can be transformative. You're not merely reaching out; you're starting a real conversation, presenting ways to solve their problems, and opening doors to new possibilities for growth.
How To Build Lead Lists like a Cold Email Expert
Building effective lead lists for cold email takes time, but your lead lists are the fuel to your email campaigns. If your vehicle has bad fuel it isn’t going to go far, on the contrary if you put the good/proper fuel into your vehicle it will perform well and you’ll be able to drive far.
Same thing goes for cold email, your lead list is arguably more important than your email copy. This is because in your lead lists you are able to segment and specifically choose who you want to target. For example, we can make a campaign that’s targeting people who went to “InfoSec World.”
Onto the actual specific steps you can take to build your lead lists. Depending on the type of leads you are looking for you will go to different databases. The most popular one is LinkedIn Sales Navigator, as LinkedIn has the largest database of B2B companies. We at Forge Outbound most commonly use Apollo.io for the actual extraction of contacts but use an assimilation of different databases to get the company domains and then we use an array of tools to enrich that information.
For this example we will use Apollo. Here are the steps we would take to build a campaign:
Step 1
Pull the list of leads: This can be as simple as toggling a few filters in Apollo.
Here you can see I’ve made a simple search targeting Founder, CEO’s & Founder’s of Cyber Security companies who are located in the U.S. and have between 2-250 employees.
Once you’re satisfied with the list you’ve created in Apollo, you can use either exportapollo.io or findylead.com to get the contact information of the leads. Information such as: first name, last name, work email, company name, company website, personal and company LinkedIn profile, phone number (if available) etc.
Step 2
Once you have your lead list, you will now have to verify the email addresses before sending. This is because if you send to invalid emails, your email reputation will suffer as a result. We call this “bounced” emails, and typically we like to keep your email bounce rate below 2%. If at any point it goes above this mark we can do an automation that pauses the campaign and sends us an alert.
Tools like Millionverifier.com are excellent for this, though neverbounce.com and debounce.io are also reliable options.
We aren’t affiliated to these companies in any way shape or form.
Step 3
Once you’ve received your list of validated email list you want to import it into google sheets and remove any unwanted columns.
From there we will want to clean the company names. This is because there will be random capitalizations, and formalities like (LLC) that are unwanted in cold emails.
We use chat GPT-4 to help us clean the company names at scale.
This is what the prompt looks like:
Here are company names. These are the company names of prospects im doing outreach to.
Take this company name and properly format it, clean it up. Remove any legal suffixes, use proper capitalization, and return only the core company name to be used in the cold outreach.
Also if they have "Agency" or "Marketing" in their name or something similiar remove it.
And if they have any location in the name "like New York" or "Los Angeles" remove it.
The idea is that this should be the way people would speak of the company in a casual conversation.
Each line is a new name, and all lines are completely different people and have nothing to do with each other.
When I submit the company name, give me back company names with what you think the filtered company name is.
The purpose of this is to use these company names in the outreach script.
When I submit a list like this:
PURDORI
Prados Beauty, LLC
Carib Sales, Inc.
LIVE LOVE SPA
I need you to return:
Purdori
Prados Beauty
Carib Sales
Live Love Spa
DO NOT RETURN ANY OTHER TEXT. ONLY THE COMPANY NAME. DO NOT RETURN NUMBERS, DO NOT RETURN ANY TEXT. ONLY THE COMPANY NAME. PLEASE DO NOT RETURN ANYTHING ELSE. ONLY THE COMPANY NAME.
Also keep in mind these company names can't have emojis, numbers, or any symbols in them whatsoever.
After the company names are done cleaning add them back into your lead list and now we will filter by timezone.
Step 4
You now have your cleaned lead list and you’re ready to launch. Add your lead list file into your ESP (Email Sending Provider) and you’re off to the races!
Breaking into this sacred space without an invitation can be a daunting challenge. That's where the artful finesse of cold emailing comes into play—a strategy that, when executed correctly, transforms unsolicited messages into welcomed business opportunities.
Understanding the Rhythm
At its heart, cold email is a dance of finesse and persuasion. It's not just about making your presence known; it's about doing so with such subtlety and relevance that you naturally sync with the recipient's rhythm. Your aim? To strike a chord with their needs and interests and spark their curiosity.
Choreographing Your Approach
The first step is crafting an opener that captivates. Forget the generic "I hope this email finds you well" and opt for something that grabs attention right away. Personalize it. Mention a recent achievement of their company, or bring up a mutual connection. Show them this isn't just another mass email; it's a handpicked invitation to connect.
From there, let your message smoothly transition into the value proposition. What can you offer that they can’t find elsewhere? Be clear, concise, and compelling. This is your sales asset—be it an informative document, a short video, or 100 free leads that perfectly match your prospect's ICP (Ideal Customer Profile). This shouldn’t be something that they can’t easily find elsewhere.
Timing is Everything
Just like in dance, timing in cold emailing is crucial. Research the optimal times to send emails to increase your visibility. Early morning or late afternoon? Tuesday or Thursday? These details matter. Understand the importance of following up without becoming overbearing. A well-timed nudge can spark action, but overdoing it can drive your audience away.
In follow-ups, we like to highlight relevant case studies and new resources that may benefit our prospect—sometimes, a simple check-in on their company’s wellbeing can be remarkably effective (this specific follow-up has been among our top performers for over 6 months).
Navigating the Dance Floor
Expect rejections and non-responses; they're part of the process. Every interaction is a step, a move that sharpens your approach. Analyze what works and what doesn’t. Was it the subject line that piqued their interest, or the personalized touch? Use these insights to refine your strategy.
Embracing the Dance
Mastering the delicate dance of cold email is a continuous journey. It demands patience, persistence, and the readiness to adapt. But when the music hits just right, and your steps align with the expectations and needs of your audience, the results can be transformative. You're not merely reaching out; you're starting a real conversation, presenting ways to solve their problems, and opening doors to new possibilities for growth.
Are you still on the fence?
Are you still on the fence?
Lets schedule a free outbound audit. We're going to discuss your business, customer acquisition & bounce ideas about outreach. Worst case scenario you get 30 minutes of free advice. Best case scenario we get you tons of meetings booked into your calendar.
Lets schedule a free outbound audit. We're going to discuss your business, customer acquisition & bounce ideas about outreach. Worst case scenario you get 30 minutes of free advice. Best case scenario we get you tons of meetings booked into your calendar.
Get A Free Outbound Audit
Forge Outbound 2024. All rights Reserved.
Forge Outbound 2024. All rights Reserved.
Forge Outbound 2024. All rights Reserved.